Disposable gloves, for example, have played a significant role in the fields of chemistry, biology, and medicine by being widely used as a protective measure to insulate hands from objects handled by a glove wearer. Disposable gloves have been widely used within the food industry, in which gloves are commonly used to protect against food contamination during food preparation, and within the medical community, in which gloves have been worn by health care professionals such as surgeons, nurses, dentists and other personnel for protection from infectious agents. The medical community has long been concerned about microbial cross-contamination between patients and health care professionals. Health care professionals frequently wear gloves as a physical barrier form of protection to reduce the risk of being exposed or contaminated through hands by infectious agents such as viruses or bacteria.
To allow ease in handling objects, conventional disposable gloves typically are made of thin and elastic materials to minimize the space between the skin and the glove. One disadvantage with this type of glove is that it has been suggested that channels can exist in, for example, latex gloves, which can allow viruses to pass through to the user's hand. Although it is customary for health care professionals to wash their hands frequently with an antimicrobial agent in a skin cleanser before donning gloves, the effect of the antimicrobial agent may be short-lived and the infectious agents such as viruses or bacteria may regrow beneath the gloves in the moist warm environment. A further disadvantage is that prolonged wearing of disposable gloves can cause a moist environment on the surface of the hand that allows viruses, bacteria, yeast, fungus and other infectious agents to grow and multiply. Itchiness and irritation can be a frequent result of wearing disposable examination gloves for extended periods, making such gloves uncomfortable for wearing. The occlusive and tight nature of disposable gloves prevent the skin from breathing especially during prolonged periods of use. In addition, many in the medical or dental professions have the need to don gloves when hands are still wet right after washing. Such disposable gloves become very difficult to don when the skin is wet making it very inconvenient for wet hand donning.
To alleviate perspiration, powders are commonly used on the inner surface of disposable gloves, in addition to making donning, wearing, and removal of gloves easier. However, there are several disadvantages that can be associated with powders. Continuous perspiration can easily overwhelm the thin layer of powder that is commonly on the surface of the glove. This is especially the case when continuous and frequent wearing of gloves is required. For example, dentists may continuously wear gloves during a dental surgical procedure for up to 40 minutes or more. In addition, hand washing is necessary after the use of powdered gloves. Frequent hand washing to remove powders is inconvenient and may also cause excessive dryness of the skin.
Still further, conventional skin preparations for gloves may be incapable of prolonged effectiveness within gloves, in the presence of accumulating perspiration and other substances that can overwhelm the preparations. Still further, conventional skin preparations for gloves may contain substances that are undesirable to some users for some applications, for example, substances that are unfamiliar to users (for example, antibacterial agents that do not occur naturally) or substances that are suspected of being harmful (for example, conventional antiperspirants).